This blog is run as an addition to my www.HistoryOfTheYankees.com website. My main website is an in-depth historical and biographical look at the New York Yankees. The blog is to serve as a place for postings and current happenings on the Yankees. I look forward to your visit and insight and hope you enjoy the season. Thanks for visiting.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

For your reading and wondering pleasure, here come the Yankees in quiz form from the professor of Bronx Bomber content. No peeking at the answers. Take the quiz first. Five correct answers makes you an “All Star.”

Lower than that read some of my Yankee books.

Herewith: 150 provocative questions and answers with some sure to be daunting even for the most extreme Yankee diehards.

1. What player wore number 7 before Mickey Mantle did?

2. Whose number (and what was it) was retired by both the New York Mets and Yankees?

3 Who was the catcher behind the plate when Dave Righetti threw his no-hitter on July 4, 1983? The catcher wore #27 when he played for the Yankees from 1982-1986.

4. Name the four managers who have piloted both the Yankees and the Mets.

ANSWERS1. Mickey Mantle was the last Yankee ever to don the number 7, wearing it from 1951 until he retired. Fourteen other Yankees wore the number in their career, the last two being Bob Cerv and Cliff Mapes. They wore the number at times during that first season.

13. B. Charlie Hough14. C. New York Yankees 15. C. Whitey Ford, 10. He started 22 World Series games.

Harvey

Frommer is one of the most prolific and respected sports journalists and oral historians in the United States, author of the autobiographies of legends Nolan

Ryan

, Tony Dorsett, and Red Holzman, Dr.

Harvey

Frommer is an expert on the New York Yankees and has arguably written more books, articles and reviews on the New York Yankees than anyone. In 2010, he was selected by the City of New York as an historical consultant for the re-imagined old Yankee Stadium site, Heritage

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Book Review - by Brad Turnow"The Ultimate Yankee Book" - by Harvey FrommerBooks on the New York Yankees come out all the time. Year after year, we are inundated with books about Yankees history, Yankees trivia, Yankees greats, etc. Not often does a book come along that I can highly recommend, but one is here. It is "The Ultimate Yankee Book" by Harvey Frommer. This is a must-own book for any Yankees fan or any fan of baseball.

Harvey Frommer covers almost EVERYTHING in this awesome book. This book truly makes the perfect gift for any Yankees fan in your family. This is an awesome source for facts, trivia, biographies, insights, stats, quizzes, profiles, and stories about the world's most successful franchise ever...the New York Yankees. With almost 300 pages of Yankees information, plus amazing never before seen pictures and images, you will not want to put this one down. Once again, the leading authority on baseball history, Harvey Frommer, presents a book for the ages.

I suggest ordering your copy today and adding this great book to your baseball library.Available: October 24, 2017

The Ultimate Yankee Book: From the Beginning to Today: Trivia, Facts and Stats, Oral History, Marker Moments and Legendary Personalities-A History and Reference Book About Baseball's Greatest Franchise

From a stumbling start back in 1903, from owners that since then in the main have set a top drawer tone and a high standard, from managers who asserted their will pushing players to perform beyond their abilities, who established winning ways setting the pattern for others to follow, from stars and superstars and a support staff on the field, behind the scenes and in the broadcast booths, the song of the New York Yankees has captivated and thrilled their fans.

No franchise in the history of sports can lay claim to what the Yankees of New York have accomplished. The Yankees have been in more World Series and won more world championships than any other team in baseball history. They have 27 championships, 18 division titles, 40 pennants, all Major League records.

The Yankees have bragging rights to the five top players ever in World Series history in runs scored and RBIs and total bases, the top three in World Series home runs and slugging percentages.

The Yankees have the most retired numbers, the most ever inducted into Cooperstown. Forty four Yankee players and 11 managers are now in the Hall of Fame and more on the way, another Major League record.

The roster of managers who have been leaders of the franchise from the Bronx have contributed mightily to the team’s image and success. Although a few have been indolent; others have been heads and shoulders above their contemporaries.

The eighth manager in franchise history was the self-effacing Miller Huggins, the little man who was arguably the first great skipper in Yankee history. Soaking wet weighing 140 pounds, with boots on still standing below five feet and five inches, he moved the Yankees from middling to mind-boggling.

Joe McCarthy was in the dugout from 1931 to 1946, sixteen years. His Yankees of 1936-1939 won four straight World Series. “Marse Joe” was dedicated, obsessive, honed in to the culture and success of the New York Yankees. His Yankee teams won 1,460 games and compiled a record .627 winning percentage. McCarthy never played a game in the big leagues but did play for 15 seasons in the minors yet he ranks as the winningest Major League Baseball manager of all time.

Charles Dillon Stengel was a piece of work. An unlikely manager for the Yankees, his time from 1949 to 1960 was an era of true Yankee greatness, a time his teams won five straight world championships. Just once in those dozen years did a Stengel team fail to win more than 90 games. His record as Yankee manager was 1,149-696, .623. In his time as skipper, Stengel was not that young, he mangled the English language and spiced it up with profanity, could be outlandish and crass and cruel and egotistical, but he could manage a ball club, getting the most of every player on his roster.

Disagreeable, driven, disliked by many, Bill Martin seemed to be in pinstripes as player and manager forever. In reality, it was his comings and goings, his five stints (1975-1978, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1988) as skipper and his histrionics, his tabloid exposure that seemed never-ending that kept him in the public eye for better or worse. Martin’s record as Yankee manager was 556 wins, 385 defeats. His clubs won but one world championship, two American League titles.

With 1,000 career losses as a manager, Joe Torre was a peculiar selection to take over as skipper of the fabled franchise. Arriving in 1996, it was the right time, the right circumstances for him. The first Yankee manager to be born in the New York City area, the calm Joseph Paul Torre was a skilled communicator, a diplomatic handler of players and team owner George Steinbrenner, He presided over a magical time for the New York Yankees winning six pennants and four world championships. He was selected Manager of the Year in 1996 and 1998.

The Yankees of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, Thurman Munson, Derek Jeter and the others thru the long decades who stepped up and out and left their mark on the shining story of the team from the Bronx:

The little Willie Keeler hitting ‘em where they ain’t, the Iron Horse Lou Gehrig playing in pain, playing on, the Babe, boisterous, bold, bigger than life, the reserved Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio, one to be counted on, the solid Lawrence Peter Berra, a rock and a sage, through all those seasons as star player, coach, manager, Eddie Lopat with his junk balls, mystifying batters, the live wire Phil Rizzuto, the elegant Jerry Coleman and Willie Randolph, Ron Guidry, honed in on the mound, the composed and fearless Mariano Rivera, grace under pressure, the monster home runs of Charlie Keller, Bill Skowron, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Chris Chambliss, et al bringing the crowd to its feet, in dirty uniform, the driven Thurman Munson blocking home plate . . .

Heritage, mystique, ritual, magic, aura, tradition, ghosts, all have all been a part of the package for the New York Yankees.

And so has . . .

Casey Stengel racking up the English language and other teams, Joe McCarthy pushing all the right buttons, DiMag hitting in 56 straight, Bucky hitting the “f______g home run in Fenway, Chris Chambliss taking Mark Littell deep, bigger than life Larsen tossing the perfect game and David Wells and David Cone.

It is all those pennants and world championships, the standing-room only crowds, the slugging of Aaron Judge, the Bleacher Creatures, the Ballantine Blasts, the White Owl Wallops, the Southern voice of Mel Allen exclaiming, "How about that?" and the New York accents of Phil Rizzuto shouting "HOLY COW!" and John Sterling’s “Sterlingese”

It is the Babe blasting the ball, Reggie Jackson smacking home run after home after home run into the chilly World Series night, Mickey Mantle ripping the mammoth clouts, Derek Jeter becoming “Mr. November.”

The one-liners passed down from generation to generation:

Waite Hoyt: "It's great to be young and a Yankee."

Joe DiMaggio: "I'd like to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee."

Casey Stengel: "I’ll never make the mistake of being 70 years old again.”

Roger Maris: "If all I am entitled to is an asterisk - that will be all right with me."

Lou Gehrig: "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."

Col. Jacob Ruppert: "Yankee Stadium was a mistake, not mine but the Giants."

Buck Showalter "Every kid growing up has dreamed of lining up at Yankee Stadium and having Bob Sheppard announce his name."

Frank Sinatra (singing John Kander & Fred Ebb’s): "...If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere... “

Harvey Frommer is one of the most prolific and respected sports journalists and oral historians in the United States, author of the autobiographies of legends Nolan

Ryan, Tony Dorsett, and Red Holzman, Dr. Harvey Frommer is an expert on the New York Yankees and has arguably written more books, articles and reviews on the New York Yankees than anyone. In 2010, he was selected by the City of New York as an historical consultant for the re-imagined old Yankee Stadium site, Heritage Field.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

A couple of years back my wife Myrna and I were interviewing for our oral history IT HAPPENED IN MIAMI. We were taken aback by the many wonderful stories we heard about Muhammad Ali and his time spent at the Fifth Street Gym where he trained and entranced so many people.

There was a moment that we thought how wonderful it would be to do an oral history of the boxing legend. That moment passed and instead we created a singular chapter in our book - -http://frommerbooks.com/it-happened-in-miami.html “Ali and the Fifth Street Gym”.

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Now along comes the very talented Jonathan Eig and his blockbuster book Ali A Life (HMH, $30.00, 623 pages). There have been many books written about the famed Ali but none at this level, with this depth, of this importance. Ali and Eig will forever be intertwined in sports literature. The book about the “Greatest” is the greatest.

Divided into three parts, spread over 56 chapters or sections, the result of more than six hundred interviews with more than 200 individuals, Ali: A Life is anecdote upon anecdote, points of views, considered comments, a master lode of data, detail, stories about one of the most important figures in sports. Eig gives us the good, the bad and the points in between. Most importantly, he brings Ali to life again. BELONGS ON YOUR BOOKSHELF

BOOKENDS: The Chicago Cubs by Rich Cohen (Farrar, Straus Giroux, $26.00, 273 pages) is as its sub-title states: “Story of a Curse.” A must for Cubbie fans, filled with stories and observation, the book is a winner.

--Harvey Frommer is one of the most prolific and respected sports journalists and oral historians in the United States, author of the autobiographies of legends Nolan Ryan, Tony Dorsett, and Red Holzman, Dr. Harvey Frommer is an expert on the New York Yankees and has arguably written more books, articles and reviews on the New York Yankees than anyone.

A professor for more than two decades in the MALS program at Dartmouth College, Frommer was dubbed “Dartmouth’s Mr. Baseball” by their alumni magazine.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Throughout the long history of baseball there have been poignant, exciting, dramatic moments. But very few can compare to what happened on October 3, 1951 at the old Polo Grounds in New York City.

Some refer to that time as "The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff." Others, especially in Brooklyn, call it "Dat Day." But no matter what label is applied it was a time to remember.

It was a time when the Giants played out of the Polo Grounds in Manhattan and the Dodgers entertained millions in their tiny Brooklyn ballpark, Ebbets Field. It was a time of tremendous fan devotion to each team.

In July Brooklyn manager Charlie Dressen had bragged, "The Giants is dead." It seemed to aptly describe the plight of Leo Durocher's team. For on August 12 the Giants trailed the Dodgers by 13 l/2 games in the standings.

Then, incredibly, the Giants locked into what has been called "The Miracle Run." They won 37 of their final 44 games - 16 of them in one frenetic stretch - and closed the gap.

"It was a once-in-a-lifetime situation," recalls Monte Irvin, who batted .312 that year for the Giants. "We kept on winning. The Dodgers kept on losing. It seemed like we beat everybody in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning.

The Giants and Dodgers finished the season in a flat-footed tie for first-place and met on the first day of October in the first game of the first play-off in the history of the National League. The teams split the first two games setting the stage for the third and final game.

Don Newcombe of the Dodgers was pitted against Sal Maglie of the Giants. Both hurlers had won 23 games during the regular season.

The game began under overcast skies and a threat of rain. Radio play-by-play filtered into schoolrooms, factories, office buildings, city prisons, barbershops.

The game was tied 1-1 after seven innings. Then Brooklyn scored three times in the top of the eighth.

Many of the Dodger fans at the Polo Grounds and the multitude listening to the game on the radio thought that the Giants would not come back.

Durocher and the Giants never gave up. "We knew that Newcombe would make the wrong pitch," said Monte Irvin. "That was his history."

The Giants came to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning - only three outs remained in their miracle season.

Alvin Dark led off with a single through the right side of the infield. Don Mueller slapped the ball past Dodger first baseman Gil Hodges. Irvin fouled out. Whitey Lockman doubled down the left field line. Dark scored.

With runners on second and third Ralph Branca came in to relieve Newcombe. Bobby Thomson waited to bat. Durocher said, "I did not know whether they would pitch to Thomson or not. First base was open. Willie Mays, just a rookie, was on deck."

Veteran New York Giant announcer Russ Hodges described the moment to millions mesmerized at their radios that October afternoon:

"Bobby Thomson up there swinging.... Bobby batting at .292. Branca pitches and Bobby takes a strike call on the inside corner. Lockman without too big of a lead at second but he'll be running like the wind if Thomson hits one.

"... the Giants win the pennant!" Hodges screamed the words at the top of his voice, all semblance of journalistic objectivity gone. "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"

Hodges bellowed it out eight times - and then overcome by the moment and voiceless, he had to yield the microphone.

Pandemonium was on parade at the Polo Grounds for hours after the game. For almost half an hour after the epic home run, there were so many phone calls placed by people in Manhattan and Brooklyn that the New York Telephone Company reported service almost broke down.

Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca would play out their major league careers. But the moment they shared - as hero and goat that October day at the Polo Grounds - would link them forever.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Harvey Frommer: One of the most prolific and respected sports journalists and oral historians in the United States, author of the autobiographies of legends Nolan Ryan, Tony Dorsett, and Red Holzman, Dr. Harvey Frommer is an expert on the New York Yankees and has arguably written more books, articles and reviews on the New York Yankees than anyone. In 2010, he was selected by the City of New York as an historical consultant for the re-imagined old Yankee Stadium site, Heritage Field.

A professor for more than two decades in the MALS program at Dartmouth College, Frommer was dubbed “Dartmouth’s Mr. Baseball” by their alumni magazine.

“As a lifelong Yankees fan, I was devouring every last delicious new detail about my beloved Bronx Bombers in this fabulous new book.” —Ed Henry, , author of 42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story

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Welcome! I hope you enjoy www.HistoryOfTheYankees.com and the blog to help keep you updated on the history of the Yankees and current events. Sign-up and be heard today. I look forward to your posts! Here's to a great season for baseball and the Yankees.
Brad